St. John Man Sentenced To 25 Years For Stabbing Woman To Death

ST. THOMAS — V.I. Superior Court Judge Denise Francois sentenced Adisa Bertrand, above, to 25 years in prison, with credit for time served, for the murder of Shantee Sievenwright, the V.I. Department of Justice announced late Friday.

Bertrand, 45, of Chocolate Hole, St. John, was sentenced today in accordance with a closed plea agreement offered by Attorney General Claude Earl Walker.

On October 28, Bertrand pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the March 7, 2014, slaying of Sievenwright, 24, admitting that he repeatedly stabbed her as she sat inside her car in a housing community. The remaining counts against him were dismissed. The plea offer also recommended that Bertrand be sentenced to a 25-year prison term, according to D.O.J.

Bertrand was arrested March 7, 2014, and was held without bail since he was taken into custody. Police officers, responding to a report of a one-car accident at Tutu Valley, found Sievenwright’s lifeless body inside a gold Honda Accord. The body bore multiple stab wounds. A stainless steel butcher knife with a 7-inch long blade was also found inside the vehicle, according to an affidavit filed by Det. Dwight Griffith.

Police later arrested Bertrand after he confessed to the crime, according to Griffith.

So that’s it. A young woman’s life is worth 25 years. So we get to clothe, house, and feed this dirt bag for the next 25 years (if even that long). The hundreds of thousands of dollars we are going to waste on this skin full of garbage could be better spent on children in the schools, the elderly – Veteran’s care.. As for the stabber? Send him to school – school full of sharks.

Gladys Richardson

Perhaps, he gets an education while serving his time and hopefully turns his life around when he is released from prison.